Finasteride for Androgenetic Alopecia User Reviews (Page 3)

• Bc1...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• June 27, 2016

"Have been taking Proscar cut into quarters for 15 years. Started when I was 17 and noticing my hair just beginning to thin and recede. I am now 32 and my hair is thicker and more abundant than when I started. I had minimal side effects (decreased ejaculation), which was an easy price to pay for the results. I have more hair than any of the friends I grew up with, and I am convinced I would be completely bald by now if it wasn't for this drug."

• Rih...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• March 1, 2020

"NOT recommended. I am 33. For treating thin and weak hair and excessive hair fall and partial baldness, I took the drug finasteride 1mg Genesis brand name for 3.5 months, then stopped for not getting even 1% results but side effects. Side effects are 6-8 kg weight gain, especially on my tummy and lower body, low performance at the gym and lazy overall as compared to my previous health state, minor stomach problems, minor pain in the penis and minor shrinkage in size, reduction in sex desire, etc."

• Nic...
• July 14, 2016

"I am taking this since the last 4 years. 1 mg tab from Dr. Reddy, and it costs less than $3 for a month in India. It's a wonder drug, and it stopped hair loss and also gives me good thick hair. Wish I had started earlier. I had very little loss of libido and think it's good for me to concentrate on other activities. No erection problem so far, but yes, reduced morning wood. I am happy with the results."

• Ton...
• March 2, 2019

"I've been on this medicine right at 1 year, and all I can say is that the difference in my hair from day one to now is tremendous. When I first started, I still had a good amount of hair, I'm only 23, and I'm trying to catch my hair loss early on. I had fairly significant thinning on the vertex and crown to the point that scalp could always be seen. For the first 3-4 months on finasteride, I shed a lot, to the point that I thought the medicine was making it worse, I had lost an additional 40-50% of the hair on the top of my head. Now, at month 12, it has all entirely grown back, and then some. Wait out the shed, my friends, it will be worth it. You may also try adding saw palmetto, it sped up the results for me. I am happy to report no side effects at all, and now when I comb my hair every morning, there are less than 3 hairs in the brush or sink. My hair loss has virtually stopped altogether. I hope these results last, but the best advice I can give from my experience is: wait out the shedding."

• Pat...
• March 21, 2016

"Was severely balding/thinning prior to taking it. Started on Propecia, and although it took a little while to work (at least half a year), I ended up regrowing a lot of hair. Switched to Proscar, hair grew back even more and thicker, hairline looks great now. Very minor side effects at the beginning, none since."

• JMC...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• October 4, 2020

"I may have reviewed this medication a while ago, but I am here again to provide an update. I am 24 now and started on Fin when I was 20. This medication does work. I am a twin, he’s not taking the medication and buzzes his head and is obviously losing his hair. It works, no side effects. I have my hair, and it’s in better health now than it was during my teenage years. I gave this a 9 because after two years of being on it, I felt like it started to reverse, losing hair again. I found a doctor who prescribed me Dutasteride .5 mg 1x per week, and I am doing very well (knock on wood). I am seriously so grateful for these meds and Rogaine. I would likely have no self-confidence. Do not fear side effects. I work out. Sexually, I am still wild. If you work out, your workout supplements give you more side effects than this. But I can tell you after being on this med for 4 years, no side effects. Take it."

• Jim...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• December 3, 2019

"I have taken this drug for 3 months and take writing this review very seriously, as I can see some negative feedback which I believe to be inaccurate. The drug does not work immediately, so be wary of any review where the user has taken it for less than 3 months. After becoming anxious about going bald, I bought a 3-month supply. I started noticing hair loss reducing from about 6 weeks on, as my desk was no longer covered. Hard to tell if any regrowth, but as I started early, I still had a reasonably healthy cover. Not being anxious about premature aging has really helped my confidence. Have experienced no tangible side effects, but in the first week believed it may have affected sex drive, but as this has disappeared, I now think it was a mental block. Can't say I have noticed any other issues. For me, it has been very positive, as I no longer worry about looking old for my age."

• eph...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• October 3, 2021

"I've applied 0.2 mg topically to my scalp daily, and after a week, I started to experience decreased penile sensation, decreased libido, and a weird pain in my testicles. No erectile dysfunction or mood swings, but I thought I'm sensitive to it and the sides would get worse if I continued. So I stopped, and everything went back to normal in like 2 days. I actually kinda liked the decreased libido effect, you see the world in a different way."

• Cur...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• October 10, 2018

"I don't get the negativity surrounding this drug. Most of those reviews are by people who have used it for just a week at the most. Maybe what they experienced could have been some confirmation bias heightened by what they read in reviews like this. But still, I can't speak for their part. As for me, I have been using it for the last 4 months. Never experienced those side effects of loss of sex drive, erectile dysfunction, or any other. My hair loss has stopped, but I am not seeing hair growth still. They say it takes 4-6 months to see some noticeable growth. Maybe that is because I am not pairing it with Minoxidil. Planning to use it for the next 5 years if things don't go wrong."

• Bob...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• December 26, 2022

"Side effects are probably much more underreported. I believe most people get side effects, and some just get used to them, and it becomes their new normal. Just like someone who drinks coffee every day for years might say they don’t feel anything, but once they stop for a couple of weeks, they feel different and go back to normal, then they realize its effects. Honestly, the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze for me personally. As a young man, I want to feel like a young man, full of energy, drive, and high sex drive. On finasteride, I felt like a 50-year-old man trapped in a young body. Girls didn’t interest me as much, I lost sensitivity, and my boners and orgasms weren’t that great. I also felt tired all the time and had memory and cognitive issues. If you are considering using this medication, yes, it works, but the price you have to pay can be life-ruining."

• Han...
• October 10, 2015

"Took it for 1 year. Hair loss almost stopped. Severe side effects: erection nearly impossible, can't orgasm, very low libido. I am 2 years off the drug, still have the side effects, nothing helps."

• Pur...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• April 7, 2023

"I took this medication for over a year and had insidiously slow, gradual sexual side effects until one day my penis and testicles went completely numb. For a year, doctors thought I was crazy, and I thought I had a spinal problem because I developed pudendal neuropathy from this drug. When I started it in 2020, I did tons of research, and PFS was not even talked about. About 5% of the studies showed permanent side effects. In the time I took it, countless studies were done showing how horrendous this drug is. Judge for yourself: well over 50% of these reviews are negative, and those are only the reported ones. This drug will change you as a person and will steal your humanity from you. Conveniently, I had to learn firsthand the side effects are permanent. Say goodbye to your manhood and sex/relationship FOREVER."

• Jus...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• April 7, 2023

"This drug moderately helped my hair loss, but it permanently damaged me. My penis has been completely numb for 16 months. I am 30 years old and I have to live with this for the rest of my life. I was perfectly healthy before. There is no cure for the sides that this causes. I don’t even have a family yet. Absolutely devastating."

• PFS...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• July 23, 2021

"This pill can devastate your life. I used it (1 mg 3 days per week) to treat hair loss between June 02, 2020, till Nov 13, 2020. In two weeks, both sexual and mental side effects appeared; namely: Sexual: 1. Entire loss of libido 2. Severe erectile dysfunction 3. Loss of sensation (penile numbness) 4. Disconnection between brain and genitals 5. Anhedonia Mental: 1. Difficulty processing my thoughts 2. Depression 3. Memory issues. After stopping in two weeks, my mental side effects improved by, say, 90%. The sexual sides, however, did not. I am now suffering from Post Finasteride Syndrome, as my symptoms did not improve not even eight months after stopping the medication. For the love of God, please stay away from this pill."

• Don...
• December 15, 2019

"I've done a lot of research about hair and looking for natural ways to make my hair grow back. I've been working on my hair, and I have come up with the simplest solution within the last couple of years. Use shampoos that do not have sulfates and those that pull blood toward the roots of the hairs. Add a little mint oil to your shampoo. I use Nizoral quite often, as it also contains zinc. Leave your shampoo on for about 15 minutes before you rinse it off. I wash my hair twice a week unless it's summer and warm when I wash it three times a week. Result? It's growing back, slowly but surely. I'd say it should take about four years to have a full set of hair back. Save your money and health!"

• Joe...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• April 15, 2019

Finasteride "Took this drug for 2 months in the year 2011, it has ruined my life. I have all sexual side effects, and the physical side effect, penis shrinkage, is the worst. It's been years since I quit the medicine, and I am still suffering with nasty side effects."

• Sim...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• April 1, 2023

"I used this for many years and didn't realize how bad the sexual effects are until I started losing women and confidence. The scandalous thing about this drug is the misreported risk of side effects originally given by Merck, who had the original patent on this med. They stated 2%, but the reality is a lot higher. I would be surprised if everyone on it isn't getting side effects, as a percentage may not even be aware of them. I experienced ball shrinkage, ED, loss of libido, and loss of confidence, and in all of this, nobody is sure if hair loss is stopped or reversed. Most people cannot tell if the hair is lost or gained because the process is slow, and unless we take photos daily in various lighting, most, if not all, of our perceptions are going to be unclear. What I'm saying here is that you can't really tell if you get your hair back unless a bald spot gets coverage, which I haven't seen."

• Rob...
• December 9, 2019

"Took Propecia for 18 years. Worked great. Insignificant sides. Well, it was years afterward that I started getting all the sexual and some cognitive (brain fog, bad sleep) side effects. Went to the doc about semi-hard erections, he gave me Cialis. I decided to go off the drug, and after about 2-3 months, I noticed my erections were completely hard as a rock. So much so, that it hurt when I got an erection (in a good way). It was growing BACK! I went back on the drug after about 1 year. My new hair loss stopped soon after, along with my penis working. This time it also started to get hard crooked. I stopped again. Many of the side effects men speak of on this forum are also dissipating. When I was on and had no big side effects, all was good and I thought the negative experiences were small. I'm done for good with Propecia - had I known before what I know now, I would not have started."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 10 years or more
• June 24, 2019

Finasteride "I started on the drug in my mid-twenties. I have been taking it for over 10 years now. It has stopped my hair loss effectively and helped me gain some volume as well. I have not noticed any side effects. I stopped taking the drug for a month somewhere along the line, and I did lose more hair when I wasn't on it. That was some years ago. I have been on it ever since."

• JJa...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• June 27, 2019

"I was worried in my late 20s about hair loss, but it wasn't noticeable. The main side effect was I couldn't achieve an orgasm, which forced me to stop. I was also taking a diuretic for blood pressure at the time. In my early 30s, my blood pressure medication was changed (a non-diuretic), and I started really noticing hair loss in the front of my head (a bald spot was forming between the front of my hair and the midline -- like my father). I went back to 1mg finasteride. The sexual side effects were gone, and the balding spot is now full. I can get the generic for $14 out of pocket."

• Jam...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• July 5, 2019

"The decision to take finasteride for hair loss should not be taken lightly. I read the other reviews and just assumed this was ‘in their heads’ and I wouldn’t experience any negative symptoms. I hate erectile issues, depression, and pains in the testicles. AVOID at all costs! Your hair is not worth your happiness."

• Hdh...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• August 28, 2017

"I am 29 and was/am seriously going bald. Up until the 10-month mark, I didn't really see any momentous changes. A slow increase in hair, along with a couple of mild shedding experiences. I can say at 10 months I am very happy!!! The front is full, and the crown is coming along. Along with blow drying it and using volumizing powder, the improvement is obvious. I haven't used minoxidil properly in 5 months either! I had no major changes in libido, and the slight decrease at points was likely work stress related. If hair loss worries you, I would recommend improving your confidence by going to the gym, getting sharp clothes, or working on other aspects of your life. However, if you love your hair so much, I can recommend this product!"

• joh...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• November 5, 2019

"Taking finasteride was the biggest mistake of my life. Finasteride is a type II 5α-reductase inhibitor. 5α-reductase is responsible for so many important bodily functions, and some unlucky individuals, like me, become damaged from it. I suffer physical, sexual, mental, and digestive symptoms every single day. I don't know if I will ever recover from this poison."

• Cc7...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• August 29, 2021

"I've been using 1 mg finasteride over the past year. After a few months of use, I was unable to recall basic information that I otherwise would have had at the tip of my tongue. Brain fog, haziness in my responses, and sometimes I could not even verbalize what I was thinking. Find another way to save your hair loss."

• Bil...
• December 24, 2016

"This drug can cause severe cognitive impairment, depression, total erectile dysfunction. If you value your life, stay away. Post-Finasteride Syndrome. It's real."